Chris Schneidmiller
RW Monitor
11/13/2015
Removal of low-level radiological waste began last month from the STURGIS barge, the world’s first floating atomic energy facility, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Friday.
The one-time World War II Liberty Ship earlier this year was towed 1,750 miles from the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia to the Port of Galveston, Texas, arriving in late April.
Workers on Oct. 2 cut the initial large access hatch into the top of the barge so that waste packaging and removal could begin, according to a statement from Brenda Barber, project manager for the USACE Baltimore District Environmental and Munitions Design Center. Packaging of material from the upper refueling room floor into Department of Transportation-compliant shipping “supersacks” began on Oct. 21.
The contaminated items were lifted from the barge and placed into intermodal containers for transport by flatbed trucks to the Waste Control Specialists disposal site in Andrews County, Texas, according to the statement. “At this time, all waste shipments have been received by the disposal facility without incident,” Barber said.
Removal of material from the upper refueling room is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. It would be followed by extraction of the barge’s spent fuel storage tank by the middle of December, Barber said.
Waste on the barge is likely to include radioactive materials, asbestos, lead-based paints, and elemental lead used in shielding, USACE has said. The barge’s MH-1A reactor contains no nuclear fuel or special nuclear material, as the facility was defueled and decontaminated before the barge was placed in storage with the James River Reserve Fleet in 1978.
“Environmental monitoring has continued since her arrival in Port, and no evidence of radioactive material or increased radiation exposure from the STURGIS has been documented outside of the reactor containment area,” Barber stated. “Safety continues to be the top priority for this project. As such, the team is consistently verifying performance of our engineering controls, conducting routine daily health and safety and radiological surveys and analyzing all collected data. Additionally, now that we are shipping radioactive waste, all appropriate radiological surveys are being performed of the items and shipment as they are prepared for shipment to ensure we are meeting the requirements of the Department of Transportation.”
Decommissioning in Galveston is expected to take 14-18 months. The barge would then be taken apart, with its components either placed in disposal or recycled as scrap. The full process is anticipated to require about four years.
During its service starting in the 1960s, the STURGIS’ reactor provided energy for military and civilian purposes in the Panama Canal area. The reactor was shut down in 1976.
